From A to N, Dec 3, 1997
Dear N,
received your message through dadu. Your letter belies the dangerous
presumption that, firstly, my own professional work is not creative enough;
and secondly, that my future lies nested only in the world of illustrations
and drawings. Thankfully, I am still able to derive inspiration in
architecture, which , incidentally,is referred to as the Mother of all arts.
It is only the compulsive initial gruelling for finding my own place under
the sun that has forced me to go underground ,so to say, but certainly not
at the cost of my pastimes, fine arts included.
This is inevitable. Till then, to quote a famous song by Neil Diamond :
"Another place
Another grace
Will save me."
Love .
A.

  From P to Q, Nov 4, 1997
Aaj onek din baade hothat school-er kotha mone hochchhilo , tai bhablam toke
ektu jalano jak. Achchha tui Section E -te kobe eshechhili re ? Bodh hoi Class
4 - e , tai na ? Tar aage to toke mone porchhe na ? Tor Class 4 -er tokhonkar
Mandeville Gardens -er building -ta mone achhe ? Jekhane khali Class 4 -er -i
class hoto ? Aar Chatterjee Auntie - ke ? Uni aamader ekta gaan
shikhiyechhilen - "Ke prothom chande gache bolo to naam ? " Bodh hoi "Jay
jayanti" chhobi-r gaan. Oi gaan-ta ektu aage gaichhilam, tai school-re kotha
mone porlo.

  From X to S, Dec 22 1997
Y ke bhulishni, bhulte parbio na. Kichu shamparka thake jar kono
shanga nei, eo tai. Y-er modhye akta adbhut gabhirata chhilo ja
shacharachar shabar modgye paoa jai na. Tora dujon je bhabe dujoner dike
akrshito hoechhili tar matra ebong shanga akmatra tui nije chhara bodh hoi
ami-i bujhe chhilam, toder ei shamparkatake ami akhono khub sraddha kori.

  From I to L, March 30, 1998
bigyan er pragati! toke 10 min aage email karlam aar sathe sathe
uttar.R hathat deshe phera decide korlo keno? aami ja jani je o
morphology niye pada shona koreche se janye or deshe kirom
oppurtunitity ta jante agrahi railam.in fact ebar dec kolkata giyei
or dadar katha sunlam. uni clinical psychologist aar aamar kichu bondhu,
psychologist er sathe alaap hoyeche.

  From K to N, Oct 22, 1995
dekhi chcheleTake chena chena lagchche; sunlam se naki Columbia te poRai, Broadway
te natok kore, mane besh aNtel chchele bujhli, bhablam ekTa dhil to chchuNRi,
bollam - South Point ? boley HyaN! tao bhabchchi kon class-e dekhechchi, o chole
jabar por mone poRlo - ke bolto ? amader sei class 4 er Chatterjee auntie-r chchele,
Sudipto.

  From K to J, May 3, 1998

Goopi was our class teacher.
Ekdin SB ke deke pathalen(SB chilo SPHS er branded bodmayish chele).
Goopi: SB, tumi roj Zero period phanki maro, classe deri kore ascho,
ki byapar boloto? (Goopi is quite angry. He repeatedly asks this
question in various ways so as to get an answer from student)

SB: (after about 20 minutes,finally came out with the following)
Ki korbo Sir, Ma-ke roj boli school jawar aage kaata oala maach
dite na, kaata bachhte,bachte deri hoye jaye, aar roj schooler
deri hoye jaye,tai Sir boken. Ma bolechen,'Tor Sir ke bolna
amader baajarta koredite.'

  From S to R, June 1, 1998

One of my beloved classmates, getting bored, slapping his legs to distract class.
Robin Pal (Bengali teacher): " Ki holo X ?"
X: "Sir, mosha kamrachhe |"
Robin Pal: "Mosha noy X, bibek dongshon!"
Suffices to say there were no further disruptions in the class.

  From S to N, Jun 2, 1998

A teacher was absent from the Science Section;
students milling around at the top of the stairs.
Another teacher (from the Business Section) passing by.
Teacher: "Why are you guys standing outside?"
A couple of seconds of silence followed by a muffled answer from Y in the crowd: "Sir, we are outstanding students, so ...." Needless to say, the class was suspended for a day while the Science teachers tried to elicit a confession. Finally, two students with rather clean records were engineered to confess.Surprisingly, this lead to a rather amicable settlement and everyone had a good laugh over the incident.

From N to R, Jun 9, 1998

A few more on Robin Pal. Hothat mone poRe gelo.

1978. SHPS. Fourth floor. Somebody from a junior class howling in the corridor. Robin Pal goes out of the class and fishes the boy in a flash. Starts beating him up quietly with a ruler. The boy tries to take evasive action and says- Sir, sotti bolchchi aar korbo na, aar korbo na Sir. Robin (RaboN) Pal keeps beating him up saying - ami o aar kokhono marbo na tomake sotti bolchchi, sotti bolchchi aar kokhono marbo na.

1981. Class XI D. Robin Pal reading out "Shakuntalar Potigrihey Jatra". SM is a little unmindful in the last row. Robin Pal, who was a menacing sky watcher (never used look at the class, always watching the ceiling)

- modhey-r sarir sesher bencher ager jon, baNdik theke tritio, SM uThe poRo. kon line e poRa hochche ?

SM grumbles, looks at the book and then hits the line just before the current.

Robin Pal- (Seems satisfied) Thik achche. bose poRo. aro ekline poRa hoye gechche. (Now looking at the class) Onek dure bose to sobdoTa ekTu deri kore pouNchchoi.

1979. Class IX D. SS and SR silently engrossed in a kicking game sitting on the first bench.Comes to Robin Pal's attention.

Robin Pal- SS uthe poRo. SS gets up.

Robin Pal-ki byapar SS, ebar dol bodole kon dole gele ? (referring to the recent football changeovers and also hinting that he has observed them kicking each other. )

SS is quiet.

Robin Pal- Thik achche, uThlei jokhon, kichchukhon aar bosho na. SS was nicknamed "Jumbo".

SR , now delighted that he was overlooked, gets up to say - Sir SS ebar JUMBO theke GEMINI circus e gechche. The entire class bursts into laughter.

Robin Pal- (with just a faint smile) O! tai ? khub bhalo! ta SR tumi o aar bosho na.

Come in Sir! Garlic Sir! Garlic Sir! ......

From S to T, Aug22, 1998

"tui to sanghatik lok re!

20 bachar aage pujoye ki korechili ta tor mone aache?aamar to 15 bochor boyesher aager kono smriti ey nei. Bhai A bcom kore chakri korche,biyer jonye meye khujche.bhai B puro sangsari,ration office e kaj kore,moped e kore bou bacha niye shashur badi jamai shasthi te jaye.

aamar ek khub bhalo bondhu,tui o chinbi,joydip raychaudhury hyderabad e birat hospital er birat daktar.darkar hole bolish thikana pathabo. Bistu bole ekta chele ke locate korar chesta korchi,simply because tar bou, bhumikaa (amader schooler, same batch), khub sundari chilo,atleast last jakhon dekhechilam."

From R to Q, Sep 8, 98

Here's a selection of my personal memories:

1) Robin Pal calling rolls in a voice devoid of any modulation - Shubho Bhattacharjo, Meghnad Mitra, Dibyadeb Ghosh, Joyjit Nath, Alok Bhadra, Rajarshi beriye jao, Kaushik Ghosh, Santanu Datta.........

2) Manosh Babu, brings a big ruler to the class one day under advise from ADG and threatens a student twice his size with physical violence amidst uproarious laughter.

3) Hopo alias Nrishingha Biswas' jaw movement.

4) Velu, alias Prithish Kar, getting locked up in the 2nd floor toilet during tiffin by one of our friends (please visit this friend) and swearing in Sylheti Bengali after his rescue!

5) Our late Rector in his Foundation Day speech : "Ami jokhon rater bela eka pujar ghore jai, kar payer shobdo shunte pai !"

6) Shyam Babu, Anjan Babu and Manosh Babu's excellent classes; Ajit Das' articulate extempore of Indian history. And many more...........